When Ramzy Ayyad was growing up and attending Kennedy High School in Richmond, he noticed how the greater community had little role with the school.

“They don’t have a lot of community involvement over there,” Ayyad said. “It’s just a school. There’s no emotional connection.”

Now 29, the El Cerrito native is one of the co-owners (along with several family members) of Zaki Kabob House, a Mediterranean restaurant at 1101 San Pablo Ave. in Albany. In the three and a half years the restaurant has been open, Ayyad has noticed how different the relationship between Albany and its schools is from what he experienced.

“I like that Albany schools are some of the best schools in the nation,” Ayyad said. “I hear from customers that come in that they’re like private school-caliber. The way they do it is through fundraising. I decided I wanted to join in on that.”

On March 3, Zaki Kabob House hosted a benefit for the Albany Education Foundation. For three hours, the restaurant hosted miniature pony rides and a bouncy castle for kids. It also served some special dishes for customers. They included grilled chicken, sumac (a berry that the Romans used for its tangy flavor before they discovered lemons), along with Arabic-style onion bread.

With little notice or publicity, Ayyad was very pleased with the results.

“In a little over three hours we raised over $100 for the Albany Education Foundation,” he said.

The foundation is a community-based nonprofit that grants funds to Albany schools for needs such as field trips, helping set up classrooms for new teachers, and school and districtwide programs. Every year, the foundation has a goal of raising $60,000 to $70,000, according to President Dianne McNenny. She added that the Zaki Kabob House fundraiser was similar to an ongoing event at Little Star Pizza.

“The first Monday of every month they give 10 percent of their proceeds to the Albany Education Foundation,” McNenny said. “That’s been very successful for the past year and a half.”

McNenny added that the foundation is needed because of “inadequate funding from the state. Even in the best of economic times.”

Ayyad echoed that.

“Raising money for the school is really important,” he said. “They don’t get as much money from the government anymore.”

Connecting with the community is one of the keys for Ayyad and his family.

“I’m very proud of what we did here,” he said. “This location has been open and shut with the businesses that came before us. (The community) didn’t know the owners.”

So, Ayyad said he is working to change that and would like to set up future benefits for the community.

“I’m in touch with the Albany Library,” he said. “I want to do something for them. The library is one of the greatest libraries I’ve seen. I’m a reading guy.”

Violent police encounters in California last year led to the deaths of 157 people and six officers, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday in a report that provides the first statewide tally on police use-of-force incidents.

At 6:03 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to reports of the robbery at the facility, 2301 Bancroft way, and learned that a man who snuck into the facility and began prowling through the building, taking cell phones and wallets from victims.

Investigators’ efforts to solve the case led to the arrests of Pablo Mendoza, 25, of Hayward, Brandon Follings, 26, of Oakland and Valeria Boden, 26, of Alameda, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.